How to do literature research

Where to find the established research?

  • Legit sources:
    • Not Wikipedia
    • Not CNN or FOX
    • Not Twitter

    • Books (research monograph)
    • Academic Journal Articles
  • Where to find it?

Using google scholar with library access

How to write a paper?

General tips

  • Using section titles.
  • Don't be too long (20–25 pages).
  • Don't over-quoting.
  • Again, playing as a lawyer rather than a detective or story teller!

Introduction (1–2 pages)

  • Most important part
    • Research question
    • Importance
    • Theory in brief
    • Method in brief
    • Findings in brief
    • So what?

Literature Review (2–3 pages)

  • Short! Short! Short!
  • Organized & generalized
  • Contribution rather than findings
  • More than three citations

PLAGIARISM

  • Easier than you think, even unintentionally!
  • In text:
    • Hu(2012, 15–36) finds that the literature in this area is well developed (King 2007).
  • Bibliography: (Details in this link)
    • Books: Ahlquist, John S. and Margaret Levi. 2013. In the Interest of Others: Leaders, Governance, and Political Activism in Membership Organizations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    • Periodicals: Gerring, John. 2005a. "Causation: A Unified Framework for the Social Sciences." Journal of Theoretical Politics 17:2 (April):163-98.
    • Chapter in Edited Collection: Brady, Henry E. and Cynthia S. Kaplan. 2011. "Conceptualizing and Measuring Ethnic Identity." In Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists, eds. Rawi Abdelal, Yoshiko M. Herrera, Alastair Iain Johnston, and Rose McDermott. New York: Cambridge University Press, 33-71.
    • Web Sites: American Political Science Association. 2013. "About the APSA Africa Workshops." Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. Retrieved October 10, 2013 (http://www.apsanet.org/~africaworkshops/content_58417.cfm).

Theory (3–5 pages)

  • Definition
    • Dependent variable(s)
    • Independent variable(s)
  • Clear relationship
  • Hypotheses!!

Research Design (5–8 pages)

  • Plan of collecting data
    • Validation of the data selection
  • Plan of using data
    • Justification of method choice

  • Feasibility of research design

  • So far, research proposal

Finishing

Results (4–6 pages)

  • Empirics
  • Findings

Conclusion (1–2 pages)

  • Most important findings
  • Implications of the findings

You're done!

How to do academic presentation?

Preparation

  • Oral
    • 10 slides for 15 mins
    • Two-page long manuscript
    • Mental set
  • Poster
    • 7–8 sections
    • An elevator speech (3–5 mins)

Slides

  • 5-5-5 Rule (?)
    • no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, and five text-heavy slides in a row
  • Tips
    • Clean background
    • Colorful contents
    • Explicit discussion

Poster

Presenting

  • Professionally dressed
  • Being a teacher
  • Rehearsal
  • Prepare for Q&A

Example